Hi, I’m Cindy.

I grew up just outside of New York City as the first generation born to immigrant parents. By my teenage years, I understood the quiet pressure to make the most of the opportunities my parents had sacrificed for.

Success meant stability. Security. Doing the “right” thing.

So I followed that path.

I earned my Bachelors degree in Accounting from Bryant University in Rhode Island — choosing a career that felt practical and reliable. It promised stability and a clear trajectory. And for a while, that was enough.

But even then, what fascinated me most wasn’t spreadsheets or numbers — it was people.

I have always been deeply curious about the stories people carry. What shaped them. What inspires them. What makes them happy. What gives them hope. What they believe about themselves and the world. I am endlessly interested in how people choose their paths — and how those paths sometimes choose them.

A few years into my accounting career, I began to feel a quiet restlessness. A deeper question started whispering: Is this how I want to make a difference?

That question led me back to school, where I earned my Masters in Elementary Education. I wanted to contribute in a more meaningful way. Shortly after graduating, the events of 9/11 unfolded, and without a teaching position lined up, I stepped back into accounting — the familiar and dependable path.

Life, however, has a way of circling us back to our true work.

Years later, one of my closest friends invited me to join her and another woman in building a leadership development company. What began as programs focused on negotiation, personal insight and critical conversations evolved into deeply reflective, transformational work. For almost 20 years, I helped grow that small, women-owned business — initially in operations, program management, human resources, and finance — but increasingly as someone deeply invested in the impact of the work itself.

Leader by leader, conversation by conversation, we were helping people show up more fully — more aware, more intentional, more courageous.

I felt immense pride knowing we were making a difference in the world. That we were helping to shape leaders with greater self-awareness, leaders equipped with the practical skills to navigate the day-to-day with clarity, resilience and integrity.

And alongside that professional growth, my personal life was evolving too.

I was married in 2005 and became a mother later in life, welcoming my two daughters in 2010 and 2011. Becoming a parent shifted everything. I became fiercely aware of time — not wanting to miss a moment of their growing up. Those years invited me to slow down, to reassess what mattered most, and to question the life I was building.

In 2016, I walked through a divorce — a season that required strength I didn’t know I had. It became a profound turning point. I began stepping outside the box of who I thought I was supposed to be — who I believed others expected me to be — and into a more authentic version of myself.

And I made a conscious decision.

I wanted to model resilience and entrepreneurship for my girls. I wanted them to see that women have a role in this world beyond motherhood and being a wife. I wanted them to witness what it looks like to choose courage, to rebuild, to lead, and to define success on their own terms.

It wasn’t loud. It wasn’t dramatic. It was honest. Intentional. Courageous and scary.

Then in 2020, when COVID reshaped so many lives, I was let go from the company I had helped build for almost two decades. Another unexpected turning point. Over the next few years, I completed a certificate program in  Diversity and Inclusion from Cornell and supported other leadership development organizations. During this time, I helped run virtual programs as a program manager and was able to once again witness the participants’ growth and subtle transformation.

And during that time, something inside me became unmistakable.

The pull wasn’t just to support the work.

It was to be in it.

In early 2024, I began exploring coaching programs, but many were entirely online. While valuable, something felt missing — the embodied energy of being in a room together, the connection between body and mind, the depth that presence allows.

I recalled interacting with Doug Silsbee years earlier and being struck by his grounded, steady presence. That memory led me to explore Presence-Based® Coaching, founded by Doug — a methodology based on deep listening, emotional intelligence, and authenticity.

It felt aligned in a way I couldn’t ignore.

Today, my work is grounded in presence and the belief that leadership lives in all of us, whether at home, at work, or in our communities. My curiosity about people — their stories, their fears, their hopes, their untapped potential — is what guides every conversation I have.

I believe real transformation unfolds when insight is lived, not just understood—and when thought is translated into courage.

I feel grounded in who I am. Clear about what matters. Aligned in how I live and lead. The journey of stepping into my authentic self — beyond cultural expectations, beyond roles, beyond who I thought I needed to be — has brought a steadiness that I carry into every space I enter.

My path hasn’t been linear. It has been shaped by cultural responsibility, motherhood, loss, reinvention, curiosity, and growth.

And that lived experience is what I bring to my work.